Three Treasures by Eshu Martin

Today I want to talk a little bit about the three jewels or the three treasures as they are expressed in Buddhism. In particular, I want to talk about one of those treasures or refuges and it’s the one I think that gets the shortest shrift in Buddhist scholarship and in Buddhist practice and in Buddhist communities. Which is funny because in the teaching of the three treasures or three refuges there is no hierarchy. I’m assuming that everybody knows what the three treasures are and that’s a big assumption. The three treasures in Buddhism are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

In early Buddhist communities one of the ways that somebody became a member of the community or became a Buddhist, if you want to put it in those terms, was by taking refuge in these three treasures Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

The word Buddha means “the one who is awake” and at the time of the Buddha, I suppose, referred to a very particular person, Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in five hundred BCE.

How do we take refuge in the Buddha? It is important for us to find a teacher, important for us to find a guide, and it is important for us to form a relationship. In an even deeper sense, to take refuge in the Buddha is to recognize the limitless capacity that each of us has as our own nature, in each situation to make relationship with the “one who is awake” in this very moment, which is not necessarily something that is just outside of us.

This was the strength of the historical Buddha. He was a person who was able to manifest this wisdom clearly and was able to reflect it for his own students so that they could realize themselves as Buddha. This is also the quality that we want to look for in a teacher, not the holy man who is glowing, who is something that’s totally different, made up of different stuff than we are, but a mirror that reflects and illuminates our own wisdom.

Dharma is a word that in this context means the law, the teaching. Taking refuge in the teaching in the historical context was taking refuge in what it was that the Buddha was talking about. The way of living, the way of engaging in relationship with this world, the way of investigating our experience in this life. The Buddha talked about suffering, the cause of suffering, that there can be an end to suffering, and the path that leads to the end of suffering. So, taking refuge in the Dharma means to immerse ourselves, not just intellectually, but experientially in the investigation of these teachings.

Another way that we can understand this is that it is important to take refuge in teaching. Just as we look for a good teacher in this life, we look for the clarity of the teaching, both the verbal teaching, and also the physical experiential teaching that we can come into contact with, with our bodies, and our hearts, and our minds.

The third way that we can understand “Dharma” is…”things”. That the teaching, this “Law”, this fundamental activity of the universe that I talk about so often in these little sermons isn’t something that special. It is not something that we have to be in a special frame of mind to experience. It’s not something that we have to go somewhere on a mountain top to experience or come into contact with. It’s not that we have to eat a particular food or hold our hands in a particular way, to come into contact with and to experience.

To realize the Dharma is to realize that this fundamental activity is unfolding in every moment. There is nothing other than this activity of the Dharma. To stop our tendency of making things into pure and impure, good and bad, right and wrong, but to see this whole universe as the unfolding of this fundamental activity is to take refuge in the Dharma. And all of this is just to talk about Sangha.

Sangha means “community of awakening”; we could say the community of practice. There is an aspect of this in its original form which infers that this is a community of people who are engaged in the practice, the experience, the realization of awakening. In the first context it is to talk about the original community of monks and lay people that arose around the historical Buddha. To talk about it in another way, in a contemporary context is to say it is to take refuge in the community of people, a living breathing community, who are engaged in this same practice of awakening.

One of the things that is most neglected in Buddhism in the west, in general, is the investigation, the effort that is required to truly take refuge in Sangha – community. Everybody is all concerned about making sure that they have the best teacher, “How many books has that teacher written?”, “What does Wikipedia say about that particular teacher?”, “On gururatings.com how does that teacher fare?”. Or people worry about the dharma, “Oh that was a great talk!” or “That was a great book!” or “That was a great interview!” or something like this, but I never hear people talk much about “Wow that was a fantastic community of practice!”, and that’s an interesting observation.

Many people take up Buddhism as an intellectual pursuit in isolation. Many people come and they say “I’ve been practicing for a long time by myself.” and I always ask, “Have you heard of the three treasures? I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.”

There is a Sanskrit term that translates as virtuous companions. This is something that I think we just don’t get enough of in our society and our world; coming into genuine relationship with other human beings who are engaged in the activity of awakening.

When I first started training, one of the metaphors that was used was that in training, you take a bunch of sharp rocks and put them in a bag together and you tie off the bag, and you start shaking the bag, and eventually what we find is when we look in the bag, we see a bunch of shining polished stones. This is the effort of engaging in the refuge of Sangha.

For most of us, when we come into relationship with another person or we come into relationship with a group of people, a community, we find that those sharp edges, those uncomfortable moments, are things that we avoid.

If we get poked enough by a sharp edge, our tendency is to run in the other direction. Our tendency is to fixate who it is that we think we are, make more sharp edges, and then bounce around in our lives trying to find a place where we will fit with all of our sharp edges. We are never committed or interested enough to stay in something where we are being hit and hitting with our sharp edges.

The other place where I see this kind of thing happening is in marriage. This is another place where people are becoming less and less inclined to tolerate, to put up with, to deal with rubbing up against other people’s sharp edges, so we get a lot of divorce, and we get a lot of communities that just never gel together.

This practice of investigating our fundamental nature, this practice of investigating how it is that we fixate ourselves, and how it is that by doing this we create suffering for ourselves and others, is extraordinarily difficult. It’s not just this relaxing, sitting, breathing, “oh isn’t this wonderful”.

When we engage in our lives, is it possible for us to maintain this calmness, this balanced state when someone cuts us off on the road, or when somebody yells at us, throws something at us, swears at us for what we think is no apparent reason?

When we engage in this formal practice we find that in spite of all of our efforts, again and again we rub up against one another in a way that makes us uncomfortable, in a way that makes us angry or upset. This practice doesn’t steer away from these kinds of interactions but instead binds us together so that by rubbing up against one another we become polished, smooth.

We find that by doing this, as we go forward into the world we don’t have so many rough edges. We’ve begun to engage in the practice of instead of making more rough edges, hanging onto our sharp points, we begin to engage in the practice of manifesting harmoniously with whatever it is that we come into contact with.

So this understanding of Sangha, taking refuge in Sangha, starts with taking refuge in what it is that this community of monks created together. This family.

In some small way by even coming into this room and engaging in this practice like this, all sitting down, entering into this moment together, we join in, we embrace and hold up, our family practice. Another way of understanding this is to come into contact with a community. A living, breathing community of human beings that are engaged in the activity of awakening. Not as an idea, but as an actual manifested practice of awakening.

Another way, and a very important way to grasp Sangha – community; is that everything in this vast universe is a part of your community. You don’t get to pick what’s in your universe. You don’t get to choose to ignore certain aspects of this vast cosmos. All things are intimately related. So this final practice of taking refuge in Sangha is to recognize that you are not separate from this universe. Not separate from anything that’s taking place.

As we engage in this in small ways, as we continue to practice, to affirm, and to recognize the true value of these refuges, we really begins to understand why it is that they are called “treasures”. Of all the things that I’ve come across in my life; not gold, not fancy cars, not really slick computers, nothing has impressed so much upon me as the value of any one of these treasures, and today in particular I have to acknowledge the value of this third treasure Sangha. So, thank you all very much for offering me a place of refuge, for offering me a real treasure. Thank you.

From 1995-2008, Eshu studied and trained with Hoju Eshin Osho, and Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi. In February 2008, Eshu ended his affiliation with Joshu Sasaki Roshi, and with Rinzai-ji Inc., Joshu Roshi's organization. Eshu has trained (2008-2011) with Kozan Gentei Osho, Abbot of the North Carolina Zen Center, and is currently continuing his training with Kokan Genjo Marinello Osho, Abbot of Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji in Seattle Washington.

Eshu Osho lives with his wife Niki and their two children at Zenwest's main Zendo in Sooke, BC.

Eshu is committed to increasing awareness of, and creating more opportunities for, Buddhist practice on Vancouver Island. He served as Buddhist Chaplain at the University of Victoria's Interfaith Chaplaincy (2004-2010), is the past chair of the World Interfaith Education Association (BC) and has served as a committee member on the Vancouver Island Health Authority's Spirituality in Mental Health and Addictions Initiative.

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3 comments

I think you make a very important point, but I do have one quibble. You state: “In the first context it is to talk about the original community of monks and lay people that arose around the historical Buddha.” Actually, the sangha from the beginning has been fourfold: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. I think it is important not to ignore women’s role in the sangha.

I totally agree it is important not to ignore women’s role in the sangha. In our temple, any individual that is ordained is called “monk”, and individuals that receive the lay precepts are called “lay people” or “lay members”.

Around here it is tricky making gender a two pronged, either this or that statement, it seems more inclusive, but it is only inclusive of one more group. It is modern North America after all, what about gay, transgender, and totally gender non-specific individuals? It is important not to ignore the contributions of anyone! We have decided to go with broader definitions, rather than make more specific titles. On our application and registration forms, gender is a blank that a person fills in themselves, and not a M/F.

As far as your observation about the original sangha goes, you are absolutely correct, of course, it is indeed “the fourfold sangha”. As was perhaps necessary for the time.

Unfortunately, also according to the vinaya, pretty much anyone outside the male/female definition were classified as pandaka, and were not eligible (in most cases) for full ordination, if at all. I feel that the sangha has come a long way (at least at our centre, and I hope in yours too!) and there is plenty of room for everybody.

This post and others that I make, are actually transcripts of live Zen talks I give to the actual community, and as such, take into consideration the diversity that I am immersed in at the time, so I have to be skillful. If I talk about the sangha being monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, I may have gained historical accuracy at the expense of actual inclusion, and that is a trade I won’t make.

Hello Eshu,
Being on the path to enlightenment, and finding this page, still I am not sure what to do here. I approach the task from another direction, which includes but does not rely on, the Buddha. May I comment in terms of enlightenment, though I do not reference the Buddha often? I offer spiritual dialogue, but is it appropriate for what you do here in your religious creation? I too speak with care for who is present.
Eldon

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